Please let me state upfront that the following opinions, suggestions, and criticisms are my own. I don’t pretend to speak for anyone other than myself. Your experiences are unique and no less valid than mine.
I’m a longtime Xbox gamer, and at this point it’s probably fair to say I’m a “fanboy.” If we understand such a thing to mean I consume and enjoy all things Xbox related. As such I’ve been onboard with Forza Motorsport as a big fan since day one. Which is why I’ve found myself surprisingly underwhelmed, disappointed even, by the most recent release.
Its not due to a lack of “numbers,” ie not enough cars or tracks (although, I really do miss Nurburgring), or even the heavy pay-to-play monetization of player progress. As I’ve played Forza Motorsport 5 there’s been a feeling of “where’s the soul?” If such a thing could be said to have existed in the prior games. Instead of just sending in an email saying “Make the next game better, or else!” I wanted to dive into what I would have done with the Forza Motorsport franchise to build it for the new generation. So here we go…
First, what are the challenges that Forza Motorsport is facing in its fifth iteration? Well, its not the nuts and bolts of cars on pavement. The physics model is now unparalleled, the cars have never looked so good in a console game, and while overly aggressive the new AI-Drivatar tech does make other racers feel more alive than ever before. So where did it go wrong?
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- Forza Motorsport 5 feels like a game that can’t decide if it wants to be a driving simulator or a racing simulator, and thus attempts to hit both with equal if uninspired gusto. You don’t get the pre-race fanfare of a proper racing game experience, and there’s no open roads to take your car out on to experience the joy of driving. Even the two longest tracks that let you get something of an open road feel, Nurburgring and Jujimi Kaido, failed to ship in the box.
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- The open ended nature of the game (pick the car you like, upgrade it, and race in these multiple series) degrades a sense of progress by not giving players a clear path to traverse. There is now so much history, and so many types of vehicles to drive, that the onboarding process feels more scattershot than it ever has before. Coming from the clear progression set by Forza Horizon the sense of progression in FM5 feels lackluster.
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- The player’s time is not respected by the user interface: you can’t quit a series until you load into the next race, post race tally screens take too long to appear, getting from one part of the game to another requires far too many clicks.
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- After five Forza Motorsport games the series still lacks a sense of unifying elements. There’s no signature music, user interface element, or brand ambassador (ala Cortana) that tie the games together. Even the logo changes from game to game.
Now at this point it may sound like I wanted Turn 10 to make Forza Horizon 2 with real world tracks, and that’s not totally off from some of my thoughts. However, while I think Forza Horizon set a high bar for items 3 and 4 above, there’s places Forza Motosport can go that Horizon will never touch. So with that in mind, here’s my take on how I would have shaped Forza Motorsport 5 to meet the above challenges…
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- Rebuild the career mode around a single player rags-to-riches racing star narrative that centers on the player starting on a small local track racing in a low powered (D-class) car. The game begins with a local Seattle sponsor (Microsoft’s XBOX division) taking you out behind a rundown garage to pick from one of five free starter cars and putting the player into an entry level racing series.
Track loading screens now feature real world drivers (building the Forza brand as a premier racing experience on consoles) giving tips about how to take that track’s tricky turns or history about the track. Forza has nailed making car lovers into gamers and gamers into car lovers, but now its time for some racing history and track lore. Forza Motorsport players should love the locations they’re taking their cars.
Once you’re onsite there is an option to do a couple of warm up laps or a qualifying run to get a better starting spot. As you run warm up laps the game feeds you tips over an in car radio ie “you’re running hot on this lap, watch your tires” or “that last turn was rough, try dropping into 3rd gear.” Said audio is pre-recorded of course, but like Madden the game attempts to line up feedback based on your driving.
Each series (all class based) includes branches for the player to try their hand at one-off non-racing events such as bowling pins, drag racing, chase, hot laps, ect. Like Forza Horizon some of these side events will supply the player with a car to drive, thus allowing for a one-off mini-series like “Classic Muscle Cars” without requiring the player to go out and purchase and tune a car they might only use one. This also allows for specifically tuned cars so that instead of an unbalanced A-class auto-upgraded classic muscle car the player gets a tuned car capable of handling the event. The final knock on effect is that challenge leaderboards with friends now have everyone driving the same car, leveling the playing field for some of the leaderboards which opens up more competition between players of varying skills.
As the player completes a class series they are presented with a cutscene and a choice of a free car from a selection (5-6) specially pre-tuned for the next class level. If the player wishes to keep their current car, or bring another lower class car along for the ride the game will walk the player though the upgrade process. The auto-upgrade option will still be there, but now a player can specify if they want the car tuned for handling/speed/power/ect.
The appearance of the player’s garage improves with each class (going from dusty barn to futuristic Tony Stark level appearance at the highest level).
If a player doesn’t wish to partake in the guided class experience and wishes to jump ahead, they can either go to the event challenge screen (similar to Forza Motorsport 4’s grid of events) or challenge for a class improvement mid series (this will work similar to the licensing system of Grand Turismo). Conversely if a player wishes to do nothing but a single event, such as Chase, the game UI and flow will allow for that.
To give the single player a sense of place the AI drivers will have tuned personalities on track, cars with design/colors that match, and even engage in banter with the player after each race. The goal is to create an off track experience for the player that imitates something like the movie RUSH where the player will come to respect even the most hated AI driver. The AI drivers will come to be sponsored by different companies, allowing for easy visual identification of their cars on track, and a sense of progression as cars go from hobby kits to full fledged F1 cars covered in logos.
Your friend’s Drivitars will only appear in non-race events as the goal of the single player career is to make the player feel like the champion, not a piece of meat being bashed around by their friends and random Xbox Live profiles. In single player races the AI drivers shouldn’t attempt to run a player off the road as this creates a bad racing experience. However, side events such as chase or demolition derby style hotlaps should have rough-and-tumble AI, and this is the perfect place for Drivitars.
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- The user interface needs to be rebuilt with a sense of flow that respects the player’s time. It should be easy to go anywhere with just two clicks. The user interface is also where Forza Motorsport can build a sense of brand awareness by adding texture, color, and visual elements that will carry from game to game. The current hierarchy heavy interface will be replaced by a floating menu that works more like a modern web page, with context sensitive reshuffling of elements, and color/texture that allows for easy visual navigation.
In-race the heads up display needs to include the traditional elements as well as a new turn indicator that appears on the track (similar to the guideline) that tells the player both how far away the next turn is, and what turn number it is. This will tie into the real-world driver narration that fills the track loading screen. The idea here is to teach the player how to tackle each track, rather than dumping them on a track.
Finally, in the interest of saving the player time both race and non-race events will happen on the same track. Ie, you will load into a track and both the visual elements and UI will reflect a current festival such as “Hot Hatches Days.” This allows the player to quickly switch between a career race, then take a breather with a hot lap, and finally blow off steam by doing a bowling pin event all while still loaded on the same track. The player gets more exposure to a track, and doesn’t have to sit through several minutes of loading screens just to do a single event on a track.
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- The player’s car is not restored to perfect working order by magic after each race/event. Instead wear and tear will carry over. Major areo impacting dents and breaks will be fixed (at a very small cost to the player, creating an in-game money sink to prevent players from building huge bankrolls just as the Forza series has always done) but scratches and dings will live on unless more expensive repairs are done.
This allows the player to build a connection to their car and remember where they were when say the left front fender got a huge scratch. Repainting a car will cover up deep scratches, but thanks to the advanced materials shaders the game will allow the player to see the remains of the scratch under the layer of paint.
Cars should be valuable to players not because they spent dozens of hours earning enough credits to buy them, or shelling out a bunch of real world $money to purchase it… but because the player has lived in, driven, destroyed, and rebuilt it. Eric Banna’s documentary movie “Love The Beast” captures the vibe that Forza Motorsport should be aiming for in future games.
The concept of rarity in a digital space is very hard, if not conceptually disingenuous, and while noble it feels like efforts to make exotic cars hard to earn/buy has gotten out of hand. Player engagement though grinding away at earning credits belongs in the same place RPGs put grinding, in the past.
So, these are my thoughts. I’m curious how many of them you agree with, and if you disagree I’d love to know where you think I’ve gone wrong. If you’ve read this far, thank you.